The Originals Review: Family Rules
Miranda Wicker
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Does anyone else feel like we've been on one long, crazy ride so far on The Originals season 1? Because I am certainly starting to feel that way.
But despite all the many different stories which have played out over the past 19 episodes - 20 if we count the backdoor pilot from The Vampire Diaries season 4 - one thing has remained the common theme running as the undercurrent in each episode:
Family above all.
The Originals Season 1 Episode 19 began with Klaus and Elijah divided over their shared werewolf dilemma and ended with them united, once again, by the bonds of brotherhood.
Now the only question is where does Hayley belong?
So Hayley's staying in the bayou where it's "safe" for her. Until, that is, a dude on a motorcycle drives into their middle-of-nowhere camp and blows up his wolfsbane-laced bike injuring a handful of wolves in broad daylight and sending Hayley on a mission to kill Marcel because he must be behind this, right?
Except no, Marcel isn't behind this. Marcel is sitting in his loft waiting for Hayley to arrive so he can hand her a bag of cash and advise her to leave town, call her Andrea Labonair, and reveal that if she had wanted to know anything at all about her birth parents all she ever had to do was ask him.
WHY DIDN'T SHE ASK HIM?
Hayley's a smart girl, and during that scene it I was seriously befuddled by the fact that until now, Hayley and Marcel have never had a serious conversation wherein she might ascertain that he, being a man who has never left New Orleans, might know a thing or two about her lineage. Which he does.
He's the one who gave her to Father Kieran so she could find an adoptive family because he "has a thing about kids."
Their interaction did serve as a misdirect toward the real culprit behind the bombing. It really seemed like it was possible that Marcel had done it, but the throwaway line pointing her toward the casinos and the humans cleared him. And the humans.
Leading us to Oliver. Ollie, Oliver, Blondey McBiceps, whatever you want to call him, is not at all a believable actor and that's making everything he says feel so self-important and ridiculous that I can't even take it seriously. (The same with Jackson and the way it's like he's always talking without opening his mouth. Is it just me who's annoyed by that? It's like Milo Ventimiglia's speaking on steroids!)
Oliver set up the attack at their camp not expecting that many people would die. He just wanted to rile them up so they'll go on the offensive against the very well prepared vampires who actually live in and control the city of New Orleans.
Oliver did this because he's an idiot.
The werewolf arc is not my favorite storyline right now, you guys. It just isn't. I wanted it to be interesting and give us some of Hayley's history, but now that we know Marcel can tell her anything she wants to know, I just can't buy into it as one of the factions I'm supposed to care about, and especially not after Oliver manipulated his entire pack.
Maybe I'm not supposed to care about it? If that's what the writers are going for, mission accomplished. Maybe I'm just not supposed to care about Oliver?
How Elijah didn't see that Oliver planted the bombs himself is sort of beyond me, unless he did figure it out and we just don't know it yet. It sort of feels like a classic Klaus maneuver and something Elijah should be able to pick up on quite rapidly given the fact that he's a thousand years old. He's sort of seen it all by now.
But if he did figure it out and he didn't tell Hayley, particularly after helping to nurse her people and care for their injuries all day long, then, well, why wouldn't he tell her? It just doesn't make sense. He just killed dozens of members of his family!
Hopefully Hayley will figure this out for herself soon enough and she can put Oliver down.
As awkward and sad a transition as that might be, Kieran was put down tonight. My heart is still crying a little about this.
RIP Father Kieran!
I'm actually quite sad about this. I really liked Kieran as a fierce human who has no qualms standing up to the vampires but also as a connection to Cami's history.
I wish the writers had decided to keep him around but in the wake of Claire Holt's exit, the show was a bit testosterone-heavy, I guess.
Still, Kieran's death gave us some magical Klaus-Cami moments tonight, further amping the love triangle between Klaus, Cami, and Marcel.
Klaus is probably going to do something completely insane next week because this week he was so tender and caring, even when delivering the difficult news that Kieran had to die and Cami needed to say goodbye to her uncle. Even Kieran's death was made as peaceful as possible because of our beloved hybrid.
And then giving Marcel a 24-hour suspension on his exile all because Cami called out for him? That's the sort of thing that keeps us hoping for Klaus' redemption. That IS his redemption.
Might Cami be the key to ending the feud between these friends? It's going to have to end at some point if the vampires--all of them--are to come out victorious against the witches, humans, and werewolves. And Elijah does hope that it will be the vampires who win in the end.
At least the two of them. Family, after all, above all.
What did you think of The Originals Season 1 Episode 19? Are you sad to see Father Kieran go? How do you feel about the werewolves?
Here is your first look at The Originals Season 1 Episode 20, "A Closer Walk with Thee."
Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
